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Re: Seed Collecting

I don't know of a link that has design specs for a seed collector that you
describe but I do have a couple links of various seed harvestor suppliers.
http://www.ag-renewal.com/seedstripper.html has a cross section of their
flail-vac seed stripper.
http://www.prairiehabitats.com/ has another flail-vac system that is
handheld.
The flail-vac seed strippers seem to be very well suited for remnant areas
that you do not want to gather all of the seed.  A lot of the seed that is
stripped off falls out of the unit and onto the ground.  

http://www.netins.net/showcase/bluestem/ has a list of services and products
including a modification kit for a John Deere 9500 combine.  Most combines
have to be modified to some extent to process the native seed that has not
been designed to be flowable and cam not handle large air flows.  The newer
the combine, the less of a problem these seems to be though.  We have used
unmodified Gleaners with some success.  Our older combines replaced the
grain bins with a bagging system so that we could easily transport the
collected material.  We also pretty much reduced the airflow of the combines
to almost nothing.

We also tried to use a modified hedge trimmer to cut off the seed heads, but
it was more trouble than it was worth.  It was just quicker and more pure to
just hand strip the seed or cut the seed heads off with a good scissors.

http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/arboretum/rmn/homepage.html is the home page
for Restoration & Management Notes.  One of the issues contained an article
on large-scale mechanical harvesting of native seeds by Apfelbaum and
Faessler.  Much of that information was later reprinted in The Tallgrass
Restoration Handbook, 1997, Packard et al.

I also came across the following reference when I was looking for other
sources on the subject.  I don't know anything about it other than what is
in the reference.  It looks like it might help.
La PrŽ, L. and M. Morris. 1995. Prairie seed collecting: A hands-on 
experience. Pp. 42-48 in T.E. Rice, editor, Proceedings of the Fourth 
Central Illinois Prairie Conference. Prairie remnants: Rekindling our 
natural heritage. Grand Prairie Friends of Illinois, Urbana.

Hope this helps,
Pat
----------
From: DACESH@aol.com 
To: prairie@mallorn.com 
Subject: Seed Collecting 
Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 11:21:57 EDT 

I am looking for "design" plans for a manual seed collector.  In otherwords,

a wooden/sheet metal device with teeth to collect a variety of native
prairie 
seeds.  I've read about the seed harvestor, but never with any details on
how 
to make it.  I need the instructions for a friend.

Thanks!

Susanne Hickey
Eastern Nebraska/Western Iowa
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